I am a plastic surgeon in Little Rock, AR. I used to "suture for a living", I continue "to live to sew". These days most of my sewing is piecing quilts. I love the patterns and interplay of the fabric color. I would like to explore writing about medical/surgical topics as well as sewing/quilting topics. I will do my best to make sure both are represented accurately as I share with both colleagues and the general public.

Quilts of Valor

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

As we near the birth(day) of our nation, I'd like to direct you to a few humorous "birth" stories. The first over at White Coat Rants is "priceless". It incorporates the mayhem of the first two weeks of July (new interns) and the credit card list of item/cost.

Getting back to the story … mind you that this story is hearsay, but it comes from a friend of mine who worked as a secretary on an OB floor, so I consider her a pretty reliable source. I also did an internet search to make sure that I’m not perpetuating some urban legend and I couldn’t find anything. So here goes:

Medical school education: $240,000Brand new white lab jacket with embroidered name: $37.50Four pack of Red Bull to keep you up all night during your first call: $9.00 ...............

The second birth story involves a cow and is told by Jeffery, The Gypsy Scholar, in his post "Mad Cow Syndrome". I learned about Jeffery's blog from a mutual friend. He grew up with Charley Peters Hale and I went to college (fellow physics student) with him. I hope you will check out this story. The comments from the grandchildren are "priceless".

In an email yesterday, my Uncle Cran owned up to his "ineptitude as a veterinarian practitioner" in his attempts at dealing with a very pregnant cow whose 'inner calf' was turned around the wrong way in the uterus and needed some redirecting toward the light of reality.

Now, birth is never an easy process, and my personal view is that the doctor should be professional, the midwife should be experienced, and the father may be present . . . but should the doctor invite his own family? Well, that's what 'Doc' Cran did -- despite not even requesting the father-bull's presence as a comfort to the mother-cow -- so the following 'procedure' took place under the curious eyes of Aunt Gay and four grandkids:

Then if you haven't discovered her already, there is Theresa, Rural Doctoring. She has done several insightful posts on the economics of practicing medicine, but also has a series on Birth Stories. This one on Open Adoption is not only a good story (more thoughtful than humorous), but also a book review.

I'm reading a great book entitled The Girls Who Went Away, by Ann Fessler. It's social history of birth mothers in the United States during the post-WWII years until Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973. During that time, unmarried women were frequently sent to maternity homes to await the birth of their child, then were pressured to surrender the baby for adoption. These young women rarely received adequate counseling about pregnancy, childbirth, social services, or alternatives to adoption..........

Reading The Girls Who Went Away got me thinking about a young woman whose birth I attended a couple of years ago. Let's say her name was Caroline.

She was about 20 years old and she and her boyfriend, Eli, had been together for a couple of years and were a dedicated couple. When Caroline got pregnant, they realized they weren't prepared to be parents. They both wanted to travel for a while, then Caroline wanted to go to college. At the beginning of the pregnancy, Caroline considered an abortion but decided against it. She and Eli went to an adoption agency and began the process of an open adoption. They interviewed a number of potential adoptive couples and decided on Dan and Amy, both businesspeople in Los Angeles who'd been trying to have children for several years................

Over the weekend, Sabado learned to fly... today, I regained my balcony. Well, not entirely, but as much as I could, for the moment.

You see, the little family will still come here; they still call this "home." But, enough is enough. Call me mean, self-serving, whatever, but when I saw Mommy nesting again (!?!?), I knew something had to be done. And no, it doesn't make sense that she will lay more eggs this season. For all I know, the nest is simply a comfy place in which to rest her little feathered butt. ...........

Sorry, Jeffery, I'll correct the spelling in the post. No, I don't actually know the other you mention, but I do find the connections (6 or 7 degrees) are interesting. You are so much more knowledgeable about world issues than I am. Still I like peaking into your blog.

Am I "much more knowledgeable about world issues"? Well, that's how I compensate for not having a real career.

By the way, if you're interested in wine, you can find Bruce Cochran's wine website here. The web design is a tad blue -- though not the dark sort of blue, more of a light, cheery blue -- but Bruce has serious knowledge about wine and food, and he takes people on wine tours . . . if you're into that sort of thing.

Just an update. Once we started using the grill again, the duct tape came down. And wouldn't you know, so did the bird. It came back every day for a dang week. I built a nest every day. Finally, we got smart and bought a grill cover. That ticked of the bird to no end. After taking a few craps on the grill cover, it finally gave up. But we can't leave the cover off for more than a few hours, or it will be back. Our grill has somehow turned into its mission in life.

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